“Their father, what did you two buy today?” The sky was already nearly dark. Earlier outside, apart from the cotton, cloth, and cotton wadding, Zhang Yuniang hadn’t gotten a clear look at what her husband had brought back at all.
“Apart from cloth, cotton, and cotton wadding, there’s also rice, flour, and salt.” Li Dazhu thought carefully for a moment before saying, “Right, our daughter also bought two catties of oil and some things called spices?”
“Then what’s with this basket of pig offal? Also.... why did you two buy so much meat!” Zhang Yuniang looked at the room full of things and felt her heart ache. How could her husband and daughter be so wasteful?
Furthermore.... that cloth and cotton—Zhang Yuniang truly felt it was a bit too extravagant. Did they think money was that easy to earn?
“Wife, don’t be unhappy. Is there anything to eat? Your daughter and I only ate a few sugar-roasted chestnuts at noon. We’re so hungry our chests are sticking to our backs.” Li Dazhu, a grown man, was already unbearably hungry, let alone his daughter.... Li Dazhu’s heart ached!
“Honestly, how could you not know to buy our daughter something to eat in town?” Zhang Yuniang immediately started complaining to Li Dazhu upon hearing this. Then, seeing Li Menglan’s small, sickly face, she felt her heart ache. “Daughter, Mom will go cook something for you right now. Just wait! It’ll be ready soon.”
“Dad, can I ask you something?” Li Menglan looked at the five quilts’ worth of cotton wadding stacked neatly together. Uh.... hadn’t she bought only raw cotton? Had she bought cotton wadding?
“What is it? Daughter, just say it.”
“Dad, what’s with this cotton wadding? Did you buy it?” Li Menglan pointed at the fluffy-looking cotton wadding and asked.
“No.” Li Dazhu was stunned and shook his head, asking, “Didn’t you buy that cotton wadding?” Li Dazhu had assumed the cotton wadding on the carriage was bought by Li Menglan, so he hadn’t asked much when he saw it.
“Me?” Li Menglan pointed at her own nose and shook her head. “Dad, I only bought raw cotton!” At that time, Li Menglan hadn’t known cotton wadding was available for purchase, which was why she had bought thirty catties of raw cotton.
Father and daughter stared at each other.... After quite a while, Li Menglan finally shook her head. “Forget it. Next time we go to Qingshui Town, we’ll just ask the clerk at the cloth shop.”
Uh.... actually, all of this was arranged by Zhao Qingyun instructing the clerk. As for what his intentions were? Hehe.... that was anyone’s guess!
“Mom, why haven’t my eldest brother and second brother returned yet?” Li Menglan looked at the sky outside that was almost completely dark and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Yeah!” Zhang Yuniang was busy working in the kitchen while also looking at the sky with worry. “I was just muttering to your grandfather and grandmother about it. Who knows what’s wrong with those two? The sky is almost completely dark, and we still haven’t seen any sign of them.” As a mother, Zhang Yuniang’s worry was certainly no less than Li Menglan’s.
Li Menglan took Li Dazhu’s hand and said, “Dad, why don’t you go meet them on the road?”
In Li Menglan’s heart, fifteen-year-old Li Zhiming and thirteen-year-old Li Zhihao were still just middle school students; little brats who needed care. This girl never had any awareness that fifteen years old—in this ancient era—was already an age where marriage could be discussed, and those who married early were almost old enough to be fathers.
“Right, it would be good for you to go take a look; the sky is getting dark.” Zhang Yuniang immediately nodded in agreement at Li Menglan’s words.
“Dazhu, your wife and daughter are right. Go out and take a look!” Li Fujin, the most authoritative figure in the Li family, also spoke up.
Li Dazhu, who originally hadn’t been very worried, could no longer sit still after hearing his wife, daughter, and father’s words. He hurriedly got up and walked toward the courtyard. “Wife, daughter, Dad, don’t worry too much. I’ll go take a look right now. Maybe those two are on their way back at this very moment.”
“Mom, I’ll help you tend the fire.” Seeing there was nothing else for her to do, Li Menglan decided to go to the kitchen to help Zhang Yuniang.
In the kitchen, Zhang Yuniang was frying pancakes. It was too late, and she was worried that boiling porridge or cooking rice would take too much time; frying pancakes was much faster. Hadn’t Li Menglan just bought flour to bring home?
The method for making these pancakes was very simple. She put the flour in a basin and kneaded it well. Zhang Yuniang also washed some chopped scallions and put them in the flour, so the fried pancakes would be even more fragrant and delicious.
Li Menglan watched her mother’s deft movements with her mouth agape. The people of ancient times really had better skills than modern people. With a series of swooshing sounds from the spatula, a thick stack of pancakes was already neatly arranged on the stove counter.
Li Menglan couldn’t help but sniff hard. “Mmm.... Mom, these pancakes smell so good.” Li Menglan felt her stomach seemed even hungrier.
“Lan girl, you’re hungry, right? Here.... eat one first to pad your stomach.” Zhang Yuniang said with a pained expression, holding a golden-brown fried flatbread in her hand.
“Mom, I’m not hungry yet. Let’s wait for Dad, eldest brother, and second brother to come back so we can eat together.” Li Menglan swallowed hard and smiled at Zhang Yuniang.
Two elders were still sitting in the main hall, and her eldest and second brothers hadn’t returned yet. Li Menglan truly couldn’t bring herself to eat alone, so she could only wrong her stomach a bit more!
“Mmm.... Mom’s Lan girl has finally grown up.” Zhang Yuniang had the expression of a mother whose daughter had just come of age, her eyes full of relief.
“Mom, why don’t we also make a stir-fried pork belly with chili peppers!” Li Menglan had been in this ancient era for so long and had never eaten pork before. Uh.... actually, what this girl wanted more was red-braised pork; it was just that it was already too late and there wasn’t enough time, so she’d have to wait until later.
“Alright, today we’ll listen to my daughter; we’ll stir-fry pork belly to eat.” Zhang Yuniang deftly scooped the cabbage out of the wok, added a few more drops of oil, and put the autumn eggplants from the cutting board into the pan.
The lives of country folk were more or less the same. Zhang Yuniang planned to make a red-braised eggplant dish; anyway, these vegetables were grown in their own fields, so there was no worry about not having enough to eat.
“Mom, how many peeled persimmons were dried today?” Li Menglan, who was adding firewood to the stove, suddenly remembered her dried persimmons.
“What do you mean how many were dried?” Zhang Yuniang glanced at her daughter with feigned annoyance. “What? Could it be that your mother is someone who does things so sloppily? Today your grandfather and grandmother also helped, and everything was dried according to what you said.”
“Mom, you didn’t throw away the peeled persimmon skins, did you?” Li Menglan was worried her mother had carelessly discarded those persimmon skins as useless things. Those persimmon skins were also good things; after drying, they could be eaten as snacks too.
This ancient era was different from modern times. In modern times, there were all kinds of colorful snacks. After these persimmon skins were dried, they could be eaten for fun when there was nothing to do.
“I didn’t! Mom was originally planning to throw them away, but your grandmother said you might still want them and told me to save them for you.” Zhang Yuniang asked curiously while busy with her tasks, “Daughter, what use could those persimmon skins have? What do you want them for?”
“Mom, persimmon skins can also be made into snacks to eat.” Mother and daughter chatted intimately in the kitchen about everyday matters.
When all the food was cooked and laid out, Li Dazhu finally walked in carrying a large sack on his shoulder. “Daughter, your eldest and second brothers had pretty good luck today.” Li Dazhu put down the sack and grinned at his daughter.
Uh.... Li Menglan didn’t know why Li Dazhu was so happy. She walked up and touched it with her hand. “Dad.... these are all chestnuts. Eldest brother and second brother found a lot of chestnuts again today.” Li Menglan wasn’t asking, but stating with absolute certainty.